Welcome to Dumpsville

Drive the Salmonier Line, part of “The Loop” that many visitors to this province take during the summer, and you don’t have to worry about falling asleep at the wheel.

Trash dumped at the side of Salmonier Line. – Telegram photo

Why, if you get tired, you can just pull over where the road widens near one of the entrances to Deer Park, stretch out on a couch and take in a little television until you feel like getting back on the road.

This little visual tableau is brought to you by someone too lazy and ignorant to even trundle up a woods road before shoving their trash out of the back of their car or truck.

Chances are, the people who dumped this are still driving by it regularly, apparently unconcerned about the effects of their handiwork.

Just another day in what can be described as the happy trash province.

We’ve written plenty about it in this space before, and almost every time, there have been plenty of comments and letters to the editor sharing a broad-based disgust for anyone who would treat the province as a personal dumpsite. And it doesn’t seem likely to change. There are still people willing to dump a full-sized couch on the side of a very well-travelled road, an action that could be spotted with the dumpers caught red-handed.

And yet, it goes on.

Why?

Chances are, you’re not going to get caught.

You’re not going to get caught because this is a big province, and not that many people are actually looking. In some municipalities, your blatant disregard for this province may get caught on a strategically placed video camera, especially if you frequent the same illegal dumpsite over and over again. Then, you might get charged and shamed a little bit (if you’re capable of feeling shame) and you might have to pay a fine.

The truth is that the only thing that’s likely to change this situation is a broad-based change of attitude. Perhaps because we have so much wild land, we take it for granted in a way that wouldn’t be acceptable anywhere else.

It’s an attitude that can’t change soon enough, because there’s nothing quite as disheartening as seeing that there are people who care so little about this place that anywhere can be their dumpsite.

Comments

Recent comments

I wonder how long this will be on the side of the road. We drove out that way last Tuesday and the ditches are a disgrace. Nick McGrath has got to be the worse Minister ever, he is always on the defensive and declines to comment when his asked questions about this sort of thing. The Outer Ring was cleaned once by the department since it was constructed and then it took them three months after the snow disappeared. This Department should have a daily cleanup of all the highways so that people will realize they are serious about keeping our Province clean.

The people who do this have the same mentality of those that park in the Fire Lanes. Literally parking on top of the "No Parking Fire Lane" words spray painted on the pavement. all the while heaving their cigarette butts out the window.

HBG

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Quick question - 03/31/2015

A Corner Brook woman was upset recently when she had her seal skin purse confiscated by customs officials when entering the United States — she was unaware of a U.S. ban on seal product entering that country. Are you aware of the ban?